In Retrospect
by Day of Diana
Summary: Snape is willing to do anything for Lily. He hopes the day will come when she is ready to make him her man. "Carpe diem," Snape repeated to himself as he walked up the stairs to the astronomy tower. "Just kiss her."


_A new story? Aw yeah, mm yeah, mm yeah, mm yeah! Everyone loves the Marauder's Time right? And everyone also loves SnapeykinsxLillers, right? So why not put these two concepts together, I asked myself? I'm so brilliant, lol. _

_Write a SnapexLily story, my brain said. It will be fun, my brain said. _

_Actually, to be honest with you guys, this story hasn't been altered since 2007. I was looking through my old files and happened upon this one and I said to myself, "I think I'll post this!" What a trip down memory lane..._

**DISCLAIMER: What's up. Snapey-kins and Lillers and James Pothead and Serious Sirius B. and Remus the Genius and Porkpie P. Petty and the Giant-Ass Squid and Prof MC Minerva and all those background characters don't belong to me so settle yo' asses down. That is all, yo. B)**

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He was sitting in his favorite spot, back sloped against the beach tree, with the wind playing with his greasy strands of hair, studying for the Charms quiz that was tomorrow. Beside him, Lily sat, long red hair covering her face as she poured over her Herbology notes. She had a test in that class later today, and she was trying her best to cram a bit more information in before the break period ended. He loved the way her brow furrowed in concentration, the way she bit her lips as she read a puzzling paragraph about the Murderous Mandilla Vine. The way her back curved, and the wind teased wisps of her cherry red hair across her temples. He loved everything about Lily. But to Lily, alas, but to Lily, she only thought him a friend. Severus' lip twitched. He would pay someone a million gold galleons if they told Lily his thoughts. But he probably wouldn't find a buyer, even if he had the million gold pieces. He was the most unpopular kid in all of Hogwarts. Only Lily, may the gods bless her, saw something in him, and befriended him. She, in his eyes, was an angel.

"Hey, Sev, what are the properties of a stewed yodeling bush?"

Severus snapped out of his longing thoughts. "Say that again?"

"Properties of a stewed yodeling bush?"

"Well, there's the part where you sing really-"

"Oi! Snivillus!"

Severus looked up in despair. His features distorted themselves into a snarl. James Potter, pretty boy, Gryffindor seeker, brains the size of an ant, Potter, strode toward where he and Lily sat, cocky as ever. And behind him tagged his friends, other pretty boy, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, resident know-it-all, and Peter Pettigrew, the snotty suck up. Severus tried to think of some clever retort, but Lily, amazingly, was getting to her feet, smiling. Severus looked at her in shock. James Potter had asked Lily out several times, but she had always stamped a rejection on his forehead. What was she doing? Oh, no...! Severus made a move to stand up as well, but Lily glanced at him and winked. He did not know what that meant. Unconciously, he settled himself back down on the grass. Did Lily just wink at me? He replayed it over in his head. I think so... wait, why am I on the ground again?

"Potter, stay away from Sev. Why do you always pick on him? He's never done anything to you..."

"Ah, Evans, just let me hex him, just this once, and then you can bite my head off. Then I'll take you on a date."

"Potter, I mean it, stay away from my friend-"

"Evans, why? Why is he your friend? Just look at him. He's the biggest loser this-"

James's arms suddenly snapped to the sides, and his legs sprang together too. His mouth clamped shut, something Severus never thought possible. Severus gazed, stunned, as Potter slowly fell to the ground, with a loud thud. The Gryffindor was frozen, on the ground, with a horrified face, staring up at Lily. She had paralyzed the guy. He looked at Lily. My angel, he thought in his head, has come to my rescue once again.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter, indeed, the entire grounds, was staring at James on the grassy ground. Lily still had her wand out, breathing shallowly, and Severus was about to call her to sit down again, when a certain person broke the astounding silence over the area.

"Miss Evans!"

Everyone, including Potter (though only his eyes did this) turned and found a scandalized looking Professor McGonagall rushing towards the beach tree.

When she reached the tree, out of breath and glaring, she straightened her pointed witch's hat and frowned at Lily.

"Explain, Miss Evans, why you did this."

Lily looked at a loss for words. Sirius immediately jumped in to accuse her.

"Evans performed a-"

"I don't want to hear from you, Mr. Black, as you are serving a detention tonight by disobeying some rules in my class this morning."

Sirius closed his mouth and flushed a pale pink. But he stayed where he was, presumably to help James after he had been un- petrified.

"Miss Evans, you weren't saying?"

Lily stared at Professor McGonagall. Severus could see something clouding her eyes. Was that, oh no, was that tears? Lily, his beautiful angel, be punished for protecting him? No, that won't do...

"Professor, it was my fault, you see, I locker legged Potter, not Li- I mean, not Evans."

The teacher turned from Lily to glare daggers at Severus. "Is that true, Mr. Snape?"

Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, James, and the whole grounds was watching him. Severus could even swear the giant squid had raised a yellow eye out of the water to sneak a peek at this peculiar scene.

Severus glanced at Lily, whose eyes were still shining with unshed tears. She shook her head a tiny bit, but Severus had already made up his mind. Lily would not get into trouble.

"Yes, Professor, it is."

Professor McGonagall resumed an angry face at him. "Why did you do this?"

"I was, um, trying to get him before he got me?"

Professor McGonagall huffed impatiently. Her grey eyes did not spare him a glance as she said in a rough voice, "Your detention will take place at nine o' clock tonight, and you will go to Mr. Filch's office. Good day." And with that, she swept away in her light green robes.

The entire area was silent a minute, and then erupted back into talking, as if nothing had happened. James sprang up from his position on the ground, and, with a snarl, stalked away with his gang. Lily looked after him for a few seconds, then turned abruptly to Severus, opened her mouth, closed it again, and plopped back against the tree. Severus sat down slowly. He had thought that Lily would be grateful to him for sparing her a detention, her record was under threat no longer, now that he had detention for her. Oh, detention. Now his record was soiled...

"Why did you do that, Sev?" Lily asked suddenly one moment later. "Why did you take the detention for me?"

"You didn't have to paralyze Potter. I should have done that. I would have done that. You just did it first."

"But that's just it. I did do it. You shouldn't have to take the-"

"Lily, you don't have to defend people who can fight for themselves. I was just thinking about putting a whole body bind on Potter, when you did it first."

"No, you weren't."

That was true, he wasn't, he hadn't, but he didn't want Lily to feel like she had to defend him from dum dum Potter. He wanted her to see he could fight his own battles, and win as well. He was not a pathetic loser who needed a girl to fight for him; he could stand up for himself.

"That's not the point. You don't have to save me. I can do that on my own."

"I wasn't saving you, I was mad at him for having a go at-"

"He didn't, though. The words weren't out of his mouth. And I'll jinx him to heck the next time he is having a go at me. Just you wait."

Lily smiled at him and laughed a little bit. He loved her laugh. He leaned against the tree's thick trunk, and was very pleased a few minutes later when Lily asked him to quiz her on Humble Heliotropes. Even if he had to serve detention later, it was worth it to see her happy.

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_Get off of your soapbox and throw me some sick beats! Yeah! Uh-huh, you know what it is! _

_So fuck me if this story is completely stupid, but I read through it and I laughed at how bad of a writer I was back then. I thought I knew everything there was to know about writing but it's been five years since this story and I still have a lot to learn. Hope you enjoyed yourself. Oh, but wait, there's more! That's why it's not complete. There's totally more to the story. Totally. And I'm not just posting this so that I can say I support SnapeyxLillers. That's totally not the reason. _

_If you're also into _**Homestuck**_, my story "Genesis" will be updated in a few days! Huzzah! _

_Stay frosty, FF[dot]net. Stay frosty._


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